Pelosi done playing 'Deal or No Deal'

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi is playing hardball with her rank and file in the run-up to an historic health care vote.

Instead of the typical wheeling and dealing to pick up much-needed support, Pelosi and her leadership team are warning members that the bill is final, and its language is set, so don’t come seeking major changes or handouts for your district.

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Asked if she was willing to change the final legislation at the request of Democratic holdouts, the speaker said, “No.”

That message may sound good to voters angered by the “Cornhusker Kickback” or any other last-minute deals — but it’s sure to make life difficult for Pelosi as she struggles to find the 216 votes she needs to pass the final package.

Of course, Pelosi’s words may just be a warning to anti-abortion Democrats and other lawmakers with major concerns that the store is no longer open; they can either vote for the bill or vote against it, but the time is over for drawn-out negotiations. And, if the votes aren’t there, Pelosi may be forced to retreat on her hardball threat.

But for now, this stern warning from party leaders — and the corresponding appeal to ideology — is bad news for lobbyists and outside groups that have been working to make eleventh-hour changes in their favor, from industry-specific changes to the public option. The decision to preclude any changes means those groups are likely to be disappointed.

“No horse-trading,” said one Democratic source with knowledge of leadership’s thinking. “They are closed for business.”

Still, this doesn’t mean party leaders can’t or won’t court votes with the lure of provisions in future bills or campaign help from the president, but it indicates that House leaders plan to go to the floor with the reconciliation bill they have rather than making last-minute changes at the Rules Committee to attract more support.

“The reconciliation package is, of its nature, a budget reconciliation, so it has to relate to the budget; it has to be about the bottom line of the federal government,” Pelosi told reporters Monday. “We cannot deal with other language in a budget reconciliation bill.”

“There’s not going to be any direct impact to this bill,” one source said. There will be “no opportunities to amend the reconciliation bill once it comes out of the Budget Committee.”